Dare

An idea for something longer perhaps, but strated out as a writing challenege between myself and my long time writing buddy Dom Murray

“You won’t do it!”

“Are you calling me chickenshit?”

“Someone will see…”

“That’s part of the fun…”

“But…”

“If I do it you have to…”

“I was joking…”

“Chickenshit!” Nate rushes off ahead of me, laughing.

I slow down, almost to a stop, watching my best friend run to the edge of the lake. We’d been walking home from school, the day bright and beautiful, the afternoon sun warm on our backs. Nathen - Nate, had already stripped his shirt off, tucking the black t-shirt into the back pocket of his jeans. His sun kissed skin matching the rich tone and colour of the straw cattlemen crease cowboy hat that he liked to wear in the summer months, showed just how much time he’d already spent shirtless in the sun this year.

I tried not to look, tried.

But this year Nate had really… Filled out. I mean at seventeen we were both filling out. He was just… Filling out with a bit more detail. I couldn’t help but look at his tanned and filled out chest. Out of admiration of course, not for any other reason.

Any other reason would just be creepy.

He’s my best friend. He’s like a…

Like a…

Brother.

Yeah, he’s like a brother.

And you don’t look at your brother like that.

Or wonder what it would be like to run your hands over the smooth skin of his chest…

I stop myself from finishing that thought. I’d been having to do that a bit more often these days, stopping my thoughts from going down a certain path. It wasn’t heathy to think of my best friend in that way, to look at him and think…

Doing it again.

I sigh, more to myself as Nate has reached the edge of the lake, dumping his bag by the side, and is pulling his trainers off. When he drops his jeans it hit’s me that he means to go through with it.

F**k.

I gulp as he slides his underwear down, showing me his bare backside, which is as tanned as the rest of him. Does this mean he’s been sunbathing in the nude? I get distracted because, well, yeah. He has a nice a*s ok? And the only way it could be that tanned would be if he’s laying out in the sun in the altogether. I try and look for a tan line. Not that I get long to look because he tosses his hat to one side and runs into lake, leaping in at the last moment, water splashing in all directions.

“Come on you chickenshit! You can’t dare me to skinny dip and not do it yourself!” he splashes water in my direction, which has no chance of reaching me. His clothes on the bank on the other hand get a good drenching.

What the hell had I been thinking when I dared him to jump in the lake naked? Of course he was going to do it, Nate has never exactly been shy or easy to embarrass. Why the hell had I agreed to join him if he did? The thought of playing around naked in the water with a naked Nate was causing my stupid c**k to wake up. I could just imagine how he’d react if he saw me diving in the cold water with a boner. I’d never live it down. He’d tell everyone, not because he’s a s**t or anything, but because he’d think it was funny.

I get close to the edge of the lake, but sit down far enough away so that he can’t throw any water at me from where he is.

“Coward!” he laughs when he realises I’m not going to join him. “Do I have to come and get you?”

“Try it and your clothes are going in the lake.”

I’m not joking, I would throw them in if he made any move to try and pull or push me in the water.

“You just wanted to see me naked,” he sloshes water at me. It misses by a mile. I don’t bother replying, because… Well… It’s pretty close to the truth. “It’s nice in here, you don’t know what you’re missing!” He dives under the water, his legs coming up as he does. I get another eyeful of his a*s. When he bursts up from the surface, I get more than an eyeful of the rest of him.

Like I said, Nate has never been that shy.

“Come on chickenshit; get your a*s in here or I’m coming to get you.”

More water comes sloshing my way. He’s closer to the edge of the lake so some of it actually hits me. I brush my now slightly damp hair out of my eyes, the front of my now damp shirt cleaning to my chest.

F****r.

His clothes are definitely going in for that.

I make a move towards them, more a dash really, my boots slipping a little on the wet grass. Before I can reach his abandoned clothes, more water hits me, drenching the front of my clothes completely. I manage to grab something - a wet something, because all the water he’d been sloshing my way has soaked his clothes - balling it up to throw in the lake when he rushes out of the water and tackles me to the ground, knocking the air out of me.

Wet naked Nate laying on top of me? I should probably struggle, try and push him off, but… Yeah well, it’s not that unpleasant so I enjoy it for a moment. Just for a moment. I fight back before he thinks it’s too weird that I’m just lying there, laughing with him when I manage to flip him off me and manage to get up, ready to throw his - what the f**k did I manage to grab? - in the lake.

His underwear, his f*****g underwear. Of all the things to pick up… Oh well.

I ball it up ready to throw it out as far as I can when he tackles me from behind. I make use of the momentum and throw his balled up shorts as far as I can, which is not that far. They kind of splat into the water near the edge.

“Nathen Catter! Eric Smith! Just what do you two think are playing at!”

We both freeze at the sound of that high pitched voice. I don’t need to look to see who it is. My stupid younger sister. Damnit!

Nate has rolled off me grabbing his hat using it to cover his groin as he stands up to face the wrath of my ten-year-old sister, grass and mud stuck to his wet skin.

“Nothing much darlen’,” he says with that deep drawl of his, “just having a dip.”